Football on Five

"Football on Five" is the principal live football programme on British television channel Five.

History

Five's first live football match was in 1997; a World Cup '98 qualifying match between Poland and England in Chorzów. International football continued on Five until 2006.

International Football

From 1997 to 2006 Five showed many away qualifying matches involving the home nations. England were shown playing in Poland (twice), Luxembourg, Bulgaria and Albania. Scotland's games included their crucial final qualifier for World Cup '98 at home to Latvia, plus trips to Lithuania, Faroe Islands, Czech Republic, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Estonia, Latvia, San Marino, Croatia and Belgium. Wales' Euro 2000 qualifier away to Italy was shown, along with many Ireland away matches. This stopped in 2002, but was resumed with Ireland's away match in Israel in 2005. Five have held the terrestrial UK rights for the FIFA Confederations Cup since 2001, showing a selection of matches including each final.

Scottish Football

Between 2002 and 2004 they showed live matches from the Scottish League Cup, including the two finals; Rangers v Celtic in 2003 and Livingston v Hibs in 2004.

Italian Football

For the 2007/08 season, Five won the rights to broadcast a live Serie A game on Sunday afternoons, presented by Radio 1 DJ Mark "Chappers" Chapman. Games are also shown on sister channel, Fiver and a highlights show is broadcast on Saturday afternoons. Five announced in July 2008 that they would not be continuing to cover Italian football for the 2008 / 2009 season.

Friendly Games

Five normally cover pre season friendly games in the run up to new seasons and have done since 2001. Two games from Liverpool's pre season tour were shown in July 2008 with Five's normal Uefa Cup team at the helm. Occasional charity games have also been shown on Five.

Uefa Cup

Five's football now consists largely of UEFA Cup matches, which it has shown throughout its existence. Five had shown matches involving Chelsea and Newcastle United in the last two seasons of the now-defunct UEFA Cup Winners' Cup. For the 2008 - 2009 season Five will become the UK’s lead network for Uefa Cup coverage, winning rights to first choice matches in every round and exclusive coverage of the final. They previously held second choice matches and had no final coverage. All games not covered by Five will be shown on ITV or Setanta Sports. [http://www.broadcastnow.co.uk/news/2008/06/five_lands_first_choice_uefa_deal.html]

Presenters

Five’s football coverage has had a number of presenters over the years. ITV News presenter Steve Scott, brother of Setanta Sports anchor Angus Scott initially hosted coverage until 2002 when he was replaced by John Barnes. In 2006, Barnes moved to a roving reporter and co commentator role. BBC Radio 1 DJ and football enthusiast Colin Murray took over the reins. In 2007 his Radio 1 colleague Mark “Chappers” Chapman joined Five to cover Italian Football. Laura Esposito also featured in Five’s Italian football coverage. It is currently unknown if Mark or Laura will feature in any future Five coverage, due to Italian football no longer being covered.

Commentators

Five’s first main commentator was Capital FM and BBC Radio Five Live man Jonathan Pearce. Pearce left in Summer 2004 to join the Match of the Day team. John Helm then filled the role left by Pearce, with other commentaries coming from Gary Bloom, Tony Jones and Jon Champion. Champion aside, all those previously mentioned still commentate for Five although Dave Woods is now first choice.

Pundits

Five’s regular pundits consist of Pat Nevin, John Barnes and Joe Royle. When needed, guests are used as pundits. David O Leary is a recent example.